Dave Dickson

LEFT v RIGHT: Listen to Michelle Obama and JD Vance describe very similar experiences very differently. Michelle views everything through a lens of oppression.

If your church is so much of a “production” that you feel the need to cancel worship services during Christmas week to give everyone a break, you’ve lost the ultimate purpose of the gathering! “We are the church. Worship is what we do. We gather together to meet with God, to hear His Word, to partake of His sacraments, to offer Him prayers and praise, to give our offerings, to confess our sins, to hear once again His assurance of pardoning grace, to dwell with Him. And we do this together every week. It becomes the very pattern of our lives. And though routine, it is the most important and glorious aspect of our lives.” - Kevin DeYoung

"Pastors are not mere teachers. We don’t just pass along information about the Bible. Yes, we must know the Word and divide it rightly. But our work goes beyond explanation. Pastors are craftsmen of the human soul. Our task is not only to explain the Word, but to apply it wisely in real situations. We are shepherds. And like real shepherds, we don’t tend random sheep in random fields. We shepherd the sheep entrusted to us. That means the application of God’s Word is never generic. It’s always aimed at a particular people, in a particular place, at a particular time. The same pastor preaching the same text will not preach it the same way to different congregations in different seasons. He can’t help it. He applies the Word to the people standing right in front of him. He’s dealing with the needs of the day for the people God has given him. If you don’t share this understanding of pastoral ministry, then this article is not for you. But if you do, then the concerns I’m raising will make sense." And here are the main points: "First, social media, like most media with global reach, delocates us." "Second, social media encourages a pastor to pander." "Third, influencer culture trains pastors to become personalities rather than simply people." "Fourth, wherever you invest your best energy, especially your most focused creativity, that’s where your heart will go." "Lastly, at least for now, I believe influencer culture becomes an echochambers which impairs a pastor’s ability to discern." Read the entire article here: thisisfoster.com/p/how-influenc…

The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever.

58 years ago today, the Abortion Act received Royal Assent. This legislation has led to a projected loss of 10,880,563 lives. 😢

“I sometimes think our definition of legalism is: ‘Anyone who takes holiness more seriously than I do.’” — Kevin DeYoung @RevKevDeYoung

The president has been talking as though Heaven is very much on his mind. It should be, and I have taken his comments as an invitation. dougwils.com/books-and-cult…

Make Elder Qualifications Biblical Again

@theSNP Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. Proverbs 27:2

The SNP brought ScotRail back into public ownership - and now it’s the best performing rail service in the UK. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🚂

@SiPeterKennedy @EwanGurr I did not say "equals"

@dave_dickson86 @EwanGurr Raw counts don’t equal biblical principle. Scripture also shows women leading without censure—Deborah (Judg 4–5), Huldah (2 Kgs 22), Esther; and NT co-workers like Phoebe (Rom 16), Priscilla, Lydia. The NT limits concern church eldership, not the civic sphere.

“2 outta 3 ain’t bad!” 🌶️🌶️❌ Male headship is biblically grounded in household & church structures Eph5…1 Tim 2-3. Nowhere is it mandated for civic society. Indeed, Deborah, Esther, Prov 31, Lydia present women as legitimate leaders in the public sphere.

@SiPeterKennedy @EwanGurr The Bible specifically names 113 male leaders (59 civil leaders, 32 prophets, 15 apostles, 7 pastors). 1 lady is called a judge and 3 are called prophetesses positively. This points clearly to an underlying principle. Isaiah 3:12

@EwanGurr @dave_dickson86 The confessions are silent on it and both Calvin and Aylmer distanced themselves from Knox’s “First Blast”. 🤷‍♂️

@SiPeterKennedy If you are really interested in thrashing out this topic happy to meet for coffee

@dave_dickson86 Yes. The podcast misrepresented complementarianism as a weak/modern compromise. In fact, it’s the historic Reformed view…headship in home and church, freedom in society. Patriarchy is the extra-biblical overreach.

@SiPeterKennedy Did you listen to the whole podcast?

@dave_dickson86 Esther acted independently to save her people (Esth 4:16). She wasn’t just “ruling beside her husband” — she risked her life to change history.

@SiPeterKennedy Esther was a queen. Totally happy with the idea of queen's ruling together with her husband the king. Prov 31 lady was home focused whilst her husband was in the gate ruling. Lydia was the head of her household because presumably because of the death of her husband which is right

@DundeeCouncil Making schools bigger is a mistake. We should be making more smaller schools. A school of 1600 should not be celebrated...

🏫Council Leader Mark Flynn visited the brand new £100 million Drumgeith Community Campus ahead of opening day tomorrow. 📚At this visit he announced that the new library will open to the community on Monday 26th August.

“My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world.” “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” If our view of the kingdom of God is such that that kingdom never intersects with, and transforms, the kingdoms of this world, our view of kingdom is too small (and probably Gnostic as well). The kingdom of God is a real kingdom. It is embodied and instantiated in various ways in the world. While it will not be consummated until the last day, it is definitely real and even visible right now.  The same Bible that teaches us Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world also teaches us that his kingdom will rule over and even absorb the kingdoms of this world. Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world in that it does not have its source, power, or character from this world. It does not advance in the same way as earthly kingdoms. But it does advance. It does have an impact on the world. It is manifested in history. We pray, “Thy kingdom come” for a reason - and the coming of the kingdom is not just something that happens at the end of history, but within history as well, as the kingdom grows and spreads. The kingdom comes as the Great Commission (in all its vast breadth) is fulfilled.  The same Bible that teaches us Christ’s kingdom is not of this world also teaches Christ has all authority in heaven and earth, and that he is King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ intends for his kingdom to rule the kingdoms of the world, to subdue them even as Adam was to subdue the beasts (cf. Daniel 7). Christ rules every square inch of creation this very moment. Therefore, he ought to be obeyed in every sphere and domain of life; he ought to be acknowledged as king by all individuals as well as by all institutions. The fact of structural religious pluralism in a society like modern America does not alter this fact; the religious pluralism we see in the world just means the church still has a lot of work to do. We called to live as citizens of God’s kingdom in all we do. As we obey Christ by faith, we manifest his kingdom in this world, however imperfectly and incompletely.  It’s interesting that many people have no problem recognizing there can be a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation or a Hindu nation, even if not every last individual in those nations subscribes to the dominant religion. But many have so bought into a privatized version of the Christian faith, that they think a Christian nation is impossible. Many of those same people have no problem with Christian families, schools, seminaries, businesses - but for some strange reason, the notion of a Christian nation appalls them (and this, despite the fact that many such Christian nations have been historical realities). This is a rejection of Christ’s lordship; it is a denial of the gospel of the kingdom.

Great book!

Over a quarter of Gen Z has been aborted.

Complementarianism was never the strong fortress many thought it was. It was built as a reaction against feminism, but it accepted feminism’s basic assumptions from the start. It reduced God’s design for men and women to a handful of isolated prooftexts about the home and church while ignoring the larger, historic vision of gendered piety that extends to all of life. Instead of rooting manhood and womanhood in their created purpose, the telos, complementarianism tried to appease the culture. It spoke of “roles” rather than duties, “leadership” rather than authority, and “equality” rather than hierarchy. In doing so, it quietly conceded the idea that men and women are interchangeable outside of family and church. Civil life, national defense, law, business, and politics were all declared neutral ground, where male headship supposedly had nothing to say. This was a massive break from the historic Christian doctrine of patriarchy, the recognition that men are called to rule as fathers in the home, the church, and society. Complementarianism rejected the name and the substance, preferring a vague language that could pass muster in the academy. It wanted to sound biblical while avoiding embarrassment. The result was predictable. Without telos, “complementarity” became arbitrary. Why can’t women be pastors? Why not soldiers, police, or rulers? If gender distinctions have no built-in purpose, then restrictions are just random rules. And random rules never last. Over the past generation, we’ve watched complementarianism erode into androgyny. The movement that promised to defend biblical sexuality has instead overseen women functioning as pastors, women leading in combat, and a growing hostility to even suggesting that men and women were made for different purposes. The fruit is clear: complementarianism was a halfway house to egalitarianism. The biblical vision is richer and more offensive to modern ears. Men and women were created for different ends. Men are called to rule, protect, and provide as fathers; women are called to help, nurture, and bring life. These duties are not optional “roles” we can swap at will. They are built into creation itself. Complementarianism failed because it was embarrassed of this truth. It tried to honor the form of biblical teaching while denying the substance. But a system that cuts itself off from the root will always wither. What we need is not another attempt to soften God’s design, but a recovery of historic Christian piety, where father-rule is embraced with gladness, and where men and women live out their created purposes in every sphere of life.